Contact Lenses After Refractive Surgery
While refractive surgery is intended to correct your vision and free you from the need to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, some patients may rely on contacts after surgery to achieve crisper, clearer vision if the exact amount of correction needed is not achieved.
The level of correction that you receive from refractive surgery is dependent on how your corneas respond to surgery as well as how they heal afterwards. Anytime refractive surgery is performed, there is a risk that it will result in over-correction or under-correction. Under-correction can be treated by prescribing contact lenses and is easier to treat than over-correction. Prior to surgery, your eye care practitioner or eye surgeon can counsel you on your risks of over and under-correction.
The terms over-correction and under-correction can be misleading as they seem to refer to a mistake made by the surgeon. More correct terminology would be over-response and under-response since the conditions are based on how your corneas respond to the surgery.
Some refractive surgery patients may also experience distorted or blurred vision or develop an irregular astigmatism which causes glare, halos and starbursts to be seen around street lights and head lights. Any of these side effects from surgery can result in eyestrain, headaches and difficulty seeing at night if they are not corrected. Under these circumstances, contact lenses can be worn to restore visual acuity.
If you will need to wear correction contact lenses after refractive surgery, two types of lenses will offer the best correction in this situation. Rigid gas permeable lenses and hybrid lenses are the most common types of lenses prescribed for patients who have had refractive surgery.
Rigid Gas Permeable – Gas permeable lenses are a better choice for those who have had surgery because they hold their shape when on the eye and the tears behind the lenses help to cover irregularities on the surface of the cornea. Read Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of RGP lenses.
Hybrid Lenses – Hybrid contact lenses are RGP lenses with a soft lenses outer skirt which makes them more comfortable for the wearer. Hybrid lenses are especially better for those who wore soft lenses prior to refractive surgery.
Soft contact lenses are not typically recommended or prescribed for refractive surgery patients since these lenses drape over the eye and are unable to eliminate the problems associated with corneal irregularities.
If you aren’t if refractive surgery is right for you, you might consider silicone hydrogel lenses as a non-surgical alternative. To learn more about contact lenses and their care take a look at Contact Lens Basicsand Proper Contact Lens Care.